Room to Panic
by exdee
Summary: What happened during the summer of the secrecy contract? LukeGrace, uhmduh. And no, this is NOT YET FINISHED.
1. I'm not interested in you!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from JoA. If I did, Grace would be in my closet and Luke would be in my bed.

* * *

No - no, she had definately not just kissed Luke. She was clearly having an out-of-body experience or something of that nature, because kissing Luke was out of the question. "Oh no, I kissed him alright. And he kissed me back. Not just once, either. Can you write this off as a statement too, Polk?" Grace 

thought to herself as she stared at the ground, seconds after having parted lips with her best friend's younger brother. "To hell with it." she thought, as she glanced up and saw how genuinely happy Luke was. Under any other circumstance, that smile would have been nauseating.

"I'm definately not interested in you either." Luke said softly, with a grin, as his hand went to her jaw to pull her in for another kiss. It was soft and sweet and didn't contain so much pent-up frustration as Grace's had. When they pulled apart, Grace's smile lasted only a few seconds.

"Dude, we really have to talk about this."

* * *

Most of that was pulled from the season 1 finale, but trust me, the rest is all mine. 


	2. The Contract

Chapter two, yay. Surprisingly, this all came very easily. I'm usually more lazy.

* * *

Grace was seated at Luke's desk, pen in hand, bent over a piece of notebook paper. 

"Grace..." Luke, having been dragged up there only minutes before, was growing more confused by the minute. "What exactly are you doing? I thought you wanted to talk about this - the 'situation'."

"Look, Girardi, if this is going to work, we'll need guidelines." Grace replied exhasperatedly, as she blew a wisp of blonde hair from in front of her face. "And I thought the critical thinking was over with the schoolyear..." she mumbled, just barely audible.

"Wait, Grace. I thought it was pretty clear. Girl shouts at boy. Girl kisses boy. Boy kisses girl. The two of them are at a loss for oxygen for a few minutes. I'm into you. You're into me. What is there to figure out?"

She stared at him blandly. "You forget, Geek, that I have a reputation to protect. We're not just going to turn into your sister and Rove." With a look of disgust, she added, "Besides, I don't like you."

"If you don't like me, why are you here?" Growing even more bewhildered, Luke began to wonder if Friedman had slipped LSD into his Pepsi, and if this was all just a very odd trip.


	3. So that's why you're here

And... the moment you've all been waiting for.

* * *

Grace got up and walked slowly over toward Luke, who was sitting at the foot of his bed. She stood directly in front of him, and they were almost the same height. Bringing him close, her hand on his jaw, she kissed him: slowly and decidedly, as if trying to make a point. A point that took roughly 5 minutes to make. 

Much to Luke's surprise, her tongue had found it's way into his mouth. Not that he was complaining. As he explored her mouth, Grace was pushing herself closer and closer to him, her hands grasping the nape of his neck. Luke began to slide to the floor, and Grace onto his lap. She moaned softly, and Luke slid his hands behind her back to

pull her closer to him.

"Okay, that's enough." Grace finally said in a half-whisper, after breaking apart from him. With a mischevious, very sexy grin she

added, "But _that _is why I'm here."

* * *

TBC 


	4. 5 Minutes?

It took me awhile to write this chapter, and I'm a huge procrastinator, so bear with me. Anyhow, more dialogue/arguments/story development in this chapter, I hope.

* * *

"...with mostly sunny skies and a high around 72 degrees." 

The perky weather-girl on Grace's radio woke her up at 9 o'clock the next morning. Much to Grace's chagrin, the night before had not been completely imagined. _Shit_, she thought as she threw off her covers and half-tumbled out of bed, _I'm supposed to meet him in half an hour_.

All of the guilt Luke felt about being so happy while his sister had Lyme disease disappeared as soon as he saw Grace. Sitting on a bench, obviously chosen for its handy location behind a large tree in a section of the park that wasn't very crowded, she didn't look pissed-as-hell for once.

"Hey, am I allowed to talk to you in public?" He asked her with a smile, as he sat down next to her.

"Don't push it, Girardi." With a half-grin she added, "Unless you want your make-out time cut."

"Do I get to see this contract before I sign it? I don't even know what my make-out time _is_." He countered.

With a good-humored glare, Grace handed him a copy from her bag. "Those are the terms. Take 'em or leave 'em."

Twenty minutes and three shocked looks from Luke ("Keep reading.") later, Grace was about ready to grab the contract and leave. "Can't you speed-read or something, geek? I have a copy for you, if you're just concerned with remembering the terms." Even though she refused to admit it to herself, Grace was almost afraid that Luke wouldn't accept her ridiculous terms.

"Wow, Grace, you must be really embarrassed by me." He said with an amused, cynical chuckle. "'No use of any coupling-related words.' What am I then, your -"

"-Service Provider." She finished for him, with a half smile. He gave her a slightly bewildered look. "Hey, you picked a girl with a reputation to protect. Now you can pay the price."

After scanning the premises (he was infatuated, not stupid), Luke took the side of her jaw in his hand and brought her face to his for a soft, short kiss. "I can live with the terms. But I only get 5 minutes a day?"

"Minimum." Pulling him towards her, she decided to instate this particular rule right away. It was for the good of her reputation, after all.

* * *

To be continued! 


	5. We May Be Mistaken

Yay, Chapter 5! With it, there will actually be gasp a conflict! All because of my dear friend Bonnie Lass. So, without further adui...

* * *

_(three weeks later)_

The bedsprings creaked as Luke sprung up off of his matress. He paced the floor and read every section meticulously. Was this really how he wanted to spend his summer, sneaking around with a girl that was ashamed of him?

_Basically, I don't know her in public, she is not and never will be my girlfriend, and all I'm really good for is 5 minutes of make-out time a day. _Luke thought angrily.

* * *

The hems of Grace's soft grey lounge pants dragged on the ground as she stumbled down the steps. There was an envelope shoved under the door with a hasty "Grace" scribbled onto the front. _If this is a love note, so help me God..._

_Grace,_

_Obviously, we weren't thinking very clearly when this started. I'm not afraid to tell you that I really do care about you and I want a real relationship with you - not just 5 minutes of make-out time everyday. I've been reading over the contract. You really are ashamed of me, and I don't know if I can take that. Maybe we should take a walk and talk about this._

_Luke_

_Not exactly what I expected. _She wasn't quite sure, an end this early would take care of getting too attached. _But do I want that?_

_

* * *

(two hours later, walking through the park mentioned in Chapter 4)_

With the clouds overhead and the tall, thick trees looming in every direction, the park seemed the perfect place for a discussion like this. The two walked slowly, no one wanting to have the first word.

"I'm not sure what you expect me to do, Grace. Do you think that I'll just settle for being pretty much nothing to you until you have five minutes to spare?" Luke seemed hurt, but respectably angry, as he spoke. "I would never string you around like this, you know. You're..."

"I don't want to know what I am!" Grace responded with force and slight panic as she turned to face him. Her voice shook a little, then became more clear. "For all intents and purposes, we are nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. We mean nothing, this is just... Fun. Just a way to spend our time."

"So _that_ is what I'm wasting my summer doing! Just being strung along for fun. Whenever you feel like five minutes of 'fun', snap your fingers, because you know I'll be right over!" Disappointment, even more than anger, was evident in all of Luke's features.

"I never told you to turn this into a 'relationship'." She was confused. She needed space and time to sort this out.

Luke watched her go. He wasn't entirely sure if he was ready to follow.

* * *

Oooh, intrigue! Yeah. Is that enough of a problem, BonBon and my other critics? I knew I needed a conflict.  



End file.
